ENGL 237 Culture, Media, and Discourse in Everyday Life

Culture, media, and discourse shape everyday life in powerful ways, and that power is accessible to those who know how to wield it; in this course, students inquire into the role that rhetorics spanning from light-hearted social media posts to serious political discourse play in shaping society. They examine how we use culture and how culture uses us, including gaming, film, television, graphic novels, and other texts. They analyze the workings of public discourse, including how values are negotiated through conflicts, how people vie to persuade effectively, and how diversity of perspective drives the processes of discourse. And they learn how their own individual lived experiences inform their perspectives, arguments, and their engagement with the culture they enjoy.

In addition to analysis, this course provides students the opportunity to create: to produce culture of the sort they enjoy, to advocate about an issue that matters to them, and/or to generate an artifact that might help them land a job or make an impact in their community.

Students who complete this course will have developed civic competencies, such as the ability to make sound judgements about when and how to be persuaded, or how to advocate effectively about issues that matter to them. In addition, they will be better able to succeed and exert their influence upon the discourses relevant to their chosen careers.

Note: some sections of this course are themed.

Credits

3

Prerequisite

ENGL 121

Hours Weekly

3

Course Objectives

1. Identify, define, and apply key concepts in cultural and discourse analysis.
2. Analyze how meaning and worldviews are both intentionally and unintentionally conveyed in culture, media, and discourse.
3. Analyze how public discourse works to negotiate conflict, including how rhetors with diverse perspectives engage each other and attempt to persuade audiences.
4. Critically engage culture, media, and discourse to make sophisticated and informed decisions about whether to be persuaded.
5. Analyze how the diverse lived experiences of rhetors—including students’ own—inform their perspectives, arguments, and engagement with culture.
6. Create rhetorically-effective and ethical contribution to a conversation taking place through culture, media, or discourse.
7. Develop insights into the workings and ethics of culture and discourse and how they are relevant to students’ personal, civic, and/or vocational contexts and aspirations.

Course Objectives

1. Identify, define, and apply key concepts in cultural and discourse analysis.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Writing Assignments

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT1
2. Analyze how meaning and worldviews are both intentionally and unintentionally conveyed in culture, media, and discourse.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Writing Assignments

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT3
3. Analyze how public discourse works to negotiate conflict, including how rhetors with diverse perspectives engage each other and attempt to persuade audiences.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Writing Assignments
4. Critically engage culture, media, and discourse to make sophisticated and informed decisions about whether to be persuaded.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Writing Assignments
5. Analyze how the diverse lived experiences of rhetors—including students’ own—inform their perspectives, arguments, and engagement with culture.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Writing Assignments

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT2
6. Create rhetorically-effective and ethical contribution to a conversation taking place through culture, media, or discourse.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Writing Assignments
7. Develop insights into the workings and ethics of culture and discourse and how they are relevant to students’ personal, civic, and/or vocational contexts and aspirations.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Writing Assignments

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT4